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Ran across this at Brion Toss's rigging page I'm In the process of welding
up a radar mast for the aft deck of #296 I thought somebody may be interested
with all the talk of aluminum alloys....<br>
<p><font color="#660000"> : "I am considering making a welded aluminum spar,out
of 4'x 12' 6061 T6 plate. The boat I am building is a 34' aluminum cutter
that will displace 14000 pounds. I have used the Riggers Apprentice to figure
the moments of inertia and found a stock section that fits, now I would like
to build a octagon with longer sides that closely matches those dimensions.
If you have any advise, reasons why I shouldn't build it or know were I could
read more on this I would appreciate it. thanks Paul</font></p>
<font color="#660000"><br>
Paul,6061 T-6 is a tempered aluminum alloy, welding will ruin the temper.
Retempering al is NOT a do it yourself project. Take a small piece of the
plate and run a weld across the middle, bend it and you will notice it is
very much softer in the welded area. Sorry. "</font><br>
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